Morning on the Lièvre

{{Infobox film

| name = Morning on the Lièvre

| native_name =

| image =

| caption = Film poster

| director = David Bairstow

| producer = David Bairstow
Guy Glover

| writer = Archibald Lampman (original text)

| narrator = George Whalley

| music = Eldon Rathburn

| cinematography = Grant Crabtree

| editing = David Bairstow

| studio = National Film Board of Canada

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1961|06||Berlin International Film Festival}}

| runtime = 13 minutes

| country = Canada

| language = English

| budget =

}}

Morning on the Lièvre is a 1961 short film, directed by David Bairstow for the National Film Board of Canada.{{cite web |title=Morning on the Lièvre |url=http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=10896 |website=onf-nfb.gc.ca |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |access-date=1 March 2023}}

The film depicts two men canoeing on the Lièvre River near Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, Quebec. Five poems by the Canadian poet Archibald Lampman –Solitude, After Mist, Ambition, A Dawn on the Lièvre, and the 1888 classic Morning on the Lièvre, are narrated by broadcaster and poet George Whalley.John Robert Colombo, Canadian Literary Landmarks. Dundurn Press, 1984. {{ISBN|9781459717985}}. p. 63. The poems give a detailed description of the forest, providing a narrative timeline progressing from dawn to full day. Ambition closes the film by asserting Lampman's rejection of contemporary society and his choice to remain in nature.{{cite web |last1=Dean |first1=Misao |title=The Nationalization of Nature: Morning on the Lièvre |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/32065/1882527278 |website=unb.ca |publisher=University of New Brunswick |access-date=1 March 2023}}

The scene was inspired by Lampman's friendship with civil servant and poet Duncan Campbell Scott; Scott had introduced Lampman to camping and the appreciation of nature, while Lampman inspired Scott to begin writing poetry.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Due to poor weather and spoiled footage, Bairstow shot the film over two seasons, and in autumn, rather than in the spring, when Lampman actually took the trip that inspired the poem. He wanted the scenes to be linked by a recurring musical motif and commissioned original work from Eldon Rathburn. He took the advice of assistant director Stephen Greenlees, who had commented that the original footage was "monotonous", and added staged footage of the river's rapids. He also emphasized the colours of the leaves, which are a defining element of the landscape tradition of the Group of Seven; the images in the film specifically recall paintings by the Group, such as The Red Maple by A. Y. Jackson, J. E. H. MacDonald's Falls, Montreal River, and Tom Thomson's In the Northland.{{cite web |last1=Dean |first1=Misao |title=The Nationalization of Nature: Morning on the Lièvre |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/32065/1882527278 |website=unb.ca |publisher=University of New Brunswick |access-date=1 March 2023}}

The choice to adapt Morning on the Lièvre to film was a significant departure from the National Film Board of Canada's previous literary adaptations, but it was a familiar poem to students of the time and fit the board's mandate to make educational films that could be used in classrooms, and that were visually artistic and experimental.{{cite web |last1=Dean |first1=Misao |title=The Nationalization of Nature: Morning on the Lièvre |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/32065/1882527278 |website=unb.ca |publisher=University of New Brunswick |access-date=1 March 2023}}